Vixen
by Nomi's Secret
Summary: The tale of Rose’s mother Rosalina, the lover of Charles Xavier and the sister of Erik Lensherr, her love for Charles nearly breaks the old friends apart. What will happen in the end? Will Rosalina survive the fight? The Prequel to Xavier's Rose.
1. Chapter 1

**Vixen**

**_Author's Note- Hey! I thought i'd do the prequel to Xavier's Rose first lol. Enjoy!!!_**

**Chapter One- Lost**

"Charles…" Erik put the newspaper crossword he was completing down and looked at his friend, "what is the region around a magnetised planet that traps solar wind?"

Charles Xavier raised his head from the dark oak desk he was sat at and looked at his lifelong friend he had met at the age of seventeen, "the magnetosphere why?"

"Magneto…hmm…oh I wanted to finish this crossword…" he told him as he penned in the missing word and completed the puzzle page of the newspaper.

"You should find more productive things to do with your time," Charles told him and looked back down at the lesson plans for the next week. He signed to say that he approved and placed them on the end of the desk so that his teachers could retrieve them in the next meeting.

"Like what?" Erik laughed, "Run a school for mutants and send letters out to new students?"

Charles couldn't help but laugh and he looked at the date; 1990. The school had been running for ten years now and his first students, Scott, Jean and Ororo were now teachers and members of his special operations team that the students had affectionately called the X-men. He still continued to mentor them but they were adults now, they could look after themselves, he felt slightly sad at that thought.

Erik looked as though he was going to further the conversation when a student called Gilly ran into the room and said, "Professors…there's someone at the door…"

Charles was taken away from his memories and looked at Gilly; she was fourteen years old and she had platinum blonde hair with light grey eyes, she was able to levitate but she had no other powers much to her own dislike.

He looked at her kindly, "tell them we will be right there Gilly…"

The girl nodded and ran back out of the room.

"I wonder who that can be…" Erik said with a smirk.

Charles shook his head and he stood up from his seat and left the office, Erik followed after him and they talked along the way.

"What are we going to do about the proposed bill of mutant rights going through congress? Or should I say lack of rights?" Erik asked as they passed various students in the lobby.

"Erik…" Charles warned, "Remember there are students around, children and we are doing our best"

"I know, I know it's just…I feel like we aren't getting very far" His old friend told him.

Charles understood how Erik felt, he had been feeling the same of late, he desperately wished for mutants to be able to come out of hiding and live normal lives like everyone else on the planet. He knew it wasn't going to happen anytime soon but maybe when the students were his age…maybe they won't feel scared to be themselves anymore.

* * *

The pair came to the door where a figure was waiting outside, she was in the shadows and looking out over the lawns over to the left side of the mansion. She was wearing a cream summer hat with a large brim that kept her face in the shade and deep red hair escaped from underneath and fell down her back. She also wore a cream and floral printed dress that was sleeveless and extended to her knees. She was facing the other way so nothing more could be known.

Erik cleared his throat and the woman turned around to see the two professors looking at her.

"What can we do for you?" Charles asked kindly.

"Oh…" a Russian sounding accent answered, "I am looking for Erik Lensherr"

Erik stepped forward suspiciously, "I'm Erik Lensherr, who are you?"

The woman smiled removing her hat to show kind brown eyes and a perfectly sculpted face with a straight nose and full lips almost as red as her hair, her skin was a cool ivory, "It's me…Rosalina…"

Charles's old friend when stiff beside him and said, "You had better come in…"

The two men stood aside to allow the woman into the mansion and she was stood in the lobby seeming quite unsure about what to do with herself. Charles saw Jean coming down the stairs talking quietly to Scott.

"Jean? Could you show Rosalina into my office please?" he asked.

"Yes, of course…follow me" Jean said and she led the woman off to his office.

Charles then turned to Erik who was staring into space obviously thinking about something, "What's wrong?"

Erik moved his head to face him, "Rosalina…she's dead…she died when my parents died…and that woman in there is trying to tell me that she is my deceased sister."

"and you think she must be lying?" his friend asked him.

Erik nodded, "Did you have to look to see that?"

Charles chuckled, "No…I think we should at least talk to her…"

"And say what?" he argued.

"Well…we find out her story and then…we take her downstairs and we see if she is telling the truth." He told him.

"Always so diplomatic" Erik commented.

"It's the only way forward…besides wouldn't Rosalina be the same age as you if she had survived?" Charles wondered.

"Yes…but there was no way she could have survived that…" Erik's eyes went like steel as he spoke.

Charles sighed and did something that would give him a better picture of what happened to his sister, he entered his memories and went to one of his earliest and most traumatic experiences.

* * *

Erik, Rosalina and there parents had been working on their farm in eastern Poland close to the border with Russia when German troops came in army trucks and Charles saw them park near the family of four. A few men got out of the back of the truck and ran into the house. Erik at this time must have been no more than nine and his sister was roughly four years old.

Erik's father approached the men while his mother beckoned the children to her side, "What do you want?"

"Are you Jews?" the thick German accent of the commanding officer asked.

"No! Of course not…" the father answered busily looking towards the house and to his family stood behind him.

The commanding officer was about to speak until a soldier charged out of the house holding something in his gloved hand, he shouted something in German to the officer and then guns were brought out.

"You lied…" he told them as more soldiers got out of the truck and surrounded the family, "You're being taken to a concentration camp…"

--------

The family was moved into the truck and the little girl started to cry, her mother held her tight to her chest and her ruby coloured hair escaped from her bun. As they drove to the camp one man yelled at the girl to stop it and another told him to shut up.

He talked to the girl trying to calm her down, "shush shush…you don't have to cry…you're only going to stay there so you don't get in the way when the fighting starts…"

The girl lifted her large and soft brown eyes up to the twenty something year old man, "Really?"

"Yes…because all the brave soldiers are going to fight to save the Russian citizens from communism," he told her with a wink.

Rosalina smiled and said, "So you're helping us?"

The man nodded smiling himself.

-----

A few hours later they arrived at the camp and joined a line of Jewish families and they entered the camp. Both children were holding their mothers hand as they shuffled down the line, but they were getting split up at the end and when it came to their turn the father did it while the mother said goodbye to her children. They cried for her and Charles saw the young Erik run for his parents and he had to be held back by five guards and the metal gates separating the adults from the parents was mangled by his power. Rosalina stayed in the line getting shuffled along by older children because she couldn't see through her tear filled eyes.

----

Over the next month Charles saw the young Erik and Rosalina live in the camp and the same soldier who had taken such an interest in her had doted on her constantly, while she accepted his kindness with great affection her brother was naturally suspicious of him. At one point the soldier was singing a polish lullaby to her, his cheerful yet solum voice carried over the yard to where he was sitting,

"A little spark twinkles from the hearth  
to little Adalbert:  
- Come, I'll tell you a story,  
it will be very long.

There was once a princess,  
She fell in love with a busker!  
The king arranged a great wedding  
And...it's the end of the story.

Once there was a witch,  
she had a little hut made of litter;  
And in this hut,  
there were only strange things!

Pssst! The spark went down.  
Adalbert looks and muses,  
His eyes filled up with tears:  
- Why did you fool me so? I'll remember that!

I won't ever believe you! You little spark!  
You shine for a moment, then you go down!  
And that's it - the whole story."

At the end of the month Rosalina was taken from Erik and dragged across the yard along with a few girls the same age. They were taken into a wooden building and the soldier that had been so kind of Rosalina entered along with some of this comrades. His face was one of disgust and guilt. Erik ran towards the building just as the door was slammed shut. A few moments later blood curling screams were heard and then five rounds of lead bullets were fired. Erik was in shock. An hour later the bodies were taken out to be buried in a mass grave…the memory ended.

* * *

"We had better go see her then…" Charles said to his friend who was none the wiser about his little expedition into his memories.

The two left the warm sunshine of the summer and entered into the lobby, they walked towards the office and the woman claiming to be Rosalina Lensherr.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two- Hear Me Out**

_Author's Note- Hey! I thought I'd make another playlist for this story =D So the song for the first chapter is My Immortal by Evanescence and the song for this chapter is Ignorance by Paramore…I know it's a bit off lol but it's the closest I could get._

Charles took a deep breath before he entered the office with Erik and secretly hoped he wouldn't do or say anything offensive. There always seemed to be a fight when that happened, Students walked around them busily trying to get to class while talking and practising their powers.

"Ready?" Charles asked his friend.

Erik's mouth curled up into a momentary smile before turning back to a frown, "what do you think?"

He smiled and then he reached his arm out to the door handle twisting it slightly until the wooden door could move freely. Charles entered the room first, Erik followed behind.

* * *

Rosalina was sat in the chair and she had removed her cream hat, it was resting on her lap. She heard the door click softly, she turned her head to see her brother's friend enter before him. She could see that Erik didn't believe her, it hurt her that he still couldn't take a leap of faith and trust someone who he knew in his heart was his only relative. Rosalina turned her head back so she was facing the desk and stopped the tears from falling.

* * *

Charles walked around his desk and sat down on the other side of it, facing the woman claiming to be Rosalina Lensherr. Erik on the other hand chose to stand near the window.

_Easier to run?_ He asked his friend mentally.

_You really should stop doing that…_ Erik replied while sending him a knowing look.

The woman's eyes shifted between the two men and knew they were communicating in someway…someway where she couldn't understand either side of the conversation, she cleared her throat and their heads whipped round to her.

"Ah, yes…Now Miss Lensherr as you understand we need to prove that you are indeed Erik's sister…" Charles told her.

"I should've known he would never believe me," her fluent English told them, "Who are you anyway?"

"Hmm? I am Charles Xavier…" he said.

"Xavier? I know that name…you are a voice on mutant rights, correct?" Rosalina asked him.

"Yes, aside from that I am the headmaster of this school…" Charles said and he had temporally forgotten what he was really meant to be speaking to her about.

"And this is a school for mutants" she stated.

"Yes…" he said while Erik cast him a 'get on with being civil' look, "anyway, tell us about how you came here…"

"Which part? After I was shot or just how did I find out where you were…" She looked at Erik and sighed.

Before Charles could instruct her on where to start Erik started talking, "How can you possibly be her? She died…I heard her screams when they lined her up against that wall and fired!"

Rosalina had to control herself, she knew what she was capable of when she was angry, "Who do you think pulled the strings so you could enter America?"

"Nobody pulled any strings for me! She was sweet and kind…you have the cruel look of a killer!" he said coldly to her.

She scoffed, "And you don't?"

"She would never have been capable of killing…" Erik said.

"Considering I was five years old…" she said while refusing to look at him.

"You can't be her! You wouldn't look like you're only thirty five!" he refused to give up the onslaught.

"You are not the only one with powers Erik!" Rosalina finally unleashed all her rage, kicking back the chair and pulled a knife from her waistbelt.

This shocked him into silence and Charles could only watch the scene from behind the desk, he was ready to throw her backwards if it was needed. Instead of attacking either of them, she raised the five inch blade to her forearm. She pulled it across the skin as if it was a well practised act. For a short time of only a few seconds blood poured freely from the wound then it began to heal over, not quickly but at a steady pace.

"See…this is how I survived five rounds of bullets entering my chest…and it also causes a delayed aging process which is why I look this young…" Rosalina explained to them.

She sighed and sat back down and replaced the knife to the inside of her belt gently clicking it into place.

"Why don't we start from the beginning?" Charles asked as he looked at an exasperated Erik and an emotional looking Rosalina.

"What do you class as the beginning?" She asked.

"From when you were separated from me…" Erik said quietly.

"Well when we were separated from our parents you ran towards the gate and they moved, you mangled the gates…I continued to shuffle along in the line with the other children. Over the next month we saw each other through the chain link fence and a polish solider, Karl Landunski took pity on me, I remember from the looks you gave him you didn't like him" she laughed remembering, "then I was dragged into the mess hall along with Anna, Eleanor, Olga and Ivy…when we were in the building a few of the other guards along with Karl lined us up against the wall…"

Rosalina's voice drifted off as she remembered the feeling of pure fear that ran though her and her friends when they were forced against the wall, they faced six soliders…

Charles saw everything as she remembered it.

"then they pulled out their rifles…they knelt down to fire at us…I remember Olga crying and she clutched on to my arm…then the older ones realised what was happening" She told them her voice still far away, "they screamed and they shot at us…I remember being slumped against the wall blood dripping from my mouth…Karl walked up to me, I was the only one alive, he whispered something in my ear and then shot me in the heart…"

The last few words still held anger and tears welled up in her eyes, "then everything went blank, then I woke up in the woods, it was night time and they were getting ready to put our bodies in the mass grave…my clothes were covered in blood but I was alive, I didn't understand at the time but Karl went to put my body in the grave then he noticed I was alive..." Rosalina smiled, "he got me to Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg…I lived with a high ranking family in the USSR, I even met Stalin on a few occasions…"

Erik could only stand there and look at his supposed sister, "what happened then"

She looked at him, "I have tried to suppress those memories and now you have made me bring them back up…I need a while to regain my composure" she wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes.

Her brother looked ready to argue but Charles stopped him, "I understand, I'll have a room made up so you can stay here for a few days. Maybe tomorrow night you'll feel ready to continue?"

"Thank you…and I should be able too, thank you" Rosalina told him in her trademark accent.

"It's no problem..." he said as he looked into her deep eyes.

Erik coughed subtly and Charles looked away just as Ororo opened the door, "professor?"

"Yes Ororo?" he asked her and Rosalina turned around in her seat.

"We think the Blackbird is ready" she said quickly.

"We'll be down in a moment" Erik said and gave Rosalina a sideways glance, "could you get a room ready for Miss Rosalina?"

"Oh of course" she said before leaving.

"you can walk around the grounds until your room is ready" Erik said and left the room.

"nice to know he has a lot of faith…" Rosalina said to no one in particular.

"He has faith and trust, he is just worried about where to place it" Charles told her as he made he was out of the room.

She sighed as she put her hair back on and went for a walk.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- Wandering**

_**Author's Note- Sorry for the lateness! I did want to update quicker but things got in the way and well I've decided I'm going to at least write a bit of Vixen every week, hopefully it'll evolve into a chapter and then I can update lol Enjoy!**_

_**Chapter Song- Youth Of Today by Amy Macdonald**_

Rosalina left the office of the principle of the renowned school and she was secretly stunned into silence about the majestic yet strikingly simple décor of the lobby interior. The cool white marble flooring was certainly expensive because it lacked any form of flaw, it was perfect. She looked down at her pale feet in cream shoes and her eyes lingered on the swirling patterns of silvery blues and delicate greys in the floor. She lifted her head and moved out of the way of several students hurrying off to their lessons. She noticed that the walls and columns were covered in a dark coloured high quality wood that had been chiselled so there were simple yet defining carvings in each panel. Although these were only borders and would be scarcely noticed she realised that Charles Xavier had wonderful taste and she believed that this hall was probably better decorated than the interior of the Kremlin!

She laughed quietly at this thought and carried on walking. She decided to leave the school building and walk around the grounds themselves. Once she was outside in the warm summer air Rosalina walked down the steps leading to the lobby onto the gravelled driveway that disappeared around some hedges where she knew the gates granting entrance to the grounds would be. She decided she would do a full walk around the mansion and started to walk to her right.

On her walk she passed a small outhouse that must've housed all of the sports gear or gardening supplies but looked completely derelict now, even from her distant position she noticed the cobwebs lining the inside of the windows. She realised that even Charles couldn't make his staff as caring to these grounds as he was.

She wondered for a moment what Erik's role in all of this was, she knew that he was one of the main professors and a good friend of Charles Xavier's and she could have sworn that somewhere she read that he was also the co-founder of this school.

Rosalina sighed and thought of the much less dangerous life her brother had lived, she had kept tabs on him throughout the years though this could only be done secretly because if anyone found out they might've used him to get to her. The life she had lived was full of problems, dangers and enemies, she hoped that this was very different to the one he had lived. But knew in her heart this was probably false.

She continued on her walk around the mansion, on this side, which was the left side if you drove towards the building, there were mainly plain grass fields which were presumably the sports fields. She saw a girl's hockey class going off with some of the younger students. She didn't have anything else to do so she approached the class just as a small thin girl with brown locks pinned up in pony tails hit the ball with her stick and accidentally caught another girl's shin bone.

The other girl started crying and fell to the floor clutching her leg, her hair was blonde and tied up in a neat bun.

The other girl simply rolled her brown eyes and said, "Get up, I didn't even catch you!"

The coach which happened to be a slightly overweight man with black thinning hair blew his whistle at the crowd gathering around the injured and sobbing girl.

As Rosalina approached she saw the crowd immediately disperse so only the injured girl was there.

"Addison" the coach's voice rolled over the heads of the young girls who couldn't be any older than eight, "get up"

"But-but" the girl called Addison stammered, "I can't! It hurts too much!"

The man sighed, "Harley? Jefferson?"

Two slightly more athletic girls stepped out from the crowd, "Yes sir"

"Take her to the nurse" he told them half heartedly, Rosalina sensed he wasn't a man accustomed to fools or maybe he was too accustomed to them.

The two girls picked up the injured Addison and got her to stand up, she was mainly balancing on one leg until they allowed her to use them both as props. She watched them walk painstakingly back into the school building, so far everyone had failed to notice her but that changed.

The coach looked around and shouted the name of yet another girl, "Diana Leto", another small figure emerged from the crowd. She had been the girl who hit the other one with the hockey stick, her face was scowling at him and she looked behind the coach to see Rosalina staring back at her. Brown eyes met brown eyes.

"What?" the girl said addressing the coach.

The man took a deep breath, "why did you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked.

"You know what" he was already getting angry with the youngster, "why did you hit Addison with the hockey stick.

"I didn't-" she started defending herself but was cut off abruptly.

"I don't want to hear it Leto, go and apologise to her" he told her.

She stared back at him folding her arms and unwilling to move, "no"

"Go apologise!" he bellowed.

"Got nothing to apologise for" she said defiantly

The coach was loosing his patience with her, "go to Xavier's office, NOW!"

The girl glared at him one last time before storming off back in the direction of the mansion, the class watched her go and so did the coach. Rosalina turned back around to see the coach then glaring at her.

"You are?" he asked accusingly.

"A friend of Xavier's and Erik Lensherr's" she told him with pride, "don't turn your anger on me or the students"

"Why not?" he asked his face turning the surprising colour of crimson.

"It's not good for your health" she told him, a threat underlying in her words that he seemingly failed to pick up on.

He grunted and turned to his class and continued with the lesson.

Rosalina glared at the back of his balding head for a few moments before turning and walking back into the school building, she wanted to talk to this Diana Leto.

* * *

Ten minutes later she was stood in the lobby again and looking around for the young girl who had been sent to Xavier's office. She found her sat on some seats just outside his door, wherever he had gone before he wasn't back yet. The girl was kicking her legs energetically in a way to calm herself down, her feet barely touched the floor. Rosalina approached her steadily and sat down next to her, "hey"

The girl looked up at her wondering what she was doing, "hi"

"I'm Rosalina" the older woman told her.

"Diana Leto" then the girl struggled with something, "but I hate that name"

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't know, just cause it doesn't feel like me" Diana told her.

"hmmm" Rosalina considered for a moment, "do you know about the goddess Diana?"

The young girl shook her head in answer.

"She was roman" her Russian voice told her, "much like the Greek Goddess Artemis seeing as the Romans got most of their ideas from the Greeks but she was the goddess of light and the protector of the vulnerable"

The girl became excited, "Really?!"

"Yes, she was also the goddess of the hunt" she said, "I'll see if I can find a book on her for you"

Diana's eyes became bright lights, "sorry for being rude earlier"

"Forget about it" Rosalina told her, "What happened anyway"

She scoffed, "I've just moved here cause my family don't want me anymore cause I did something they didn't expect and that girl starts going on about how brilliant her life I thought she was a wimp cause whenever anything bad happens she cries like a baby"

"Maybe it's just her way of dealing with things" she chose her next words carefully, "I'm sorry to hear about your family but what did you do?"

The girl struggled with her words for a few moments, "I…a burglar broke into the house and dragged us all down stairs, he tried to hit me with the fire poker so…I ended up blinding him"

"How?" she asked.

"my power…the Professor says I end up causing a blinding white light when I feel anger or fear or something, he wants me to control when I use it" she told her truthfully.

"Well…I'm sure the Professor will understand, how about you go get changed and get to your next lesson I'll tell him for you" Rosalina said kindly her heart reaching out for the poor child.

"Really? You'd do that?" she exclaimed and saw her nod, "thank you!"

Then she ran off back towards P.E halls so she could get changed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four-**** Permission**

_**Author's Note-**__** hey! Hope you like this one! Enjoy!**_

_**Chapter Song- Believe by Skillet**_

Rosalina watched the young girl go and sighed, maybe things would start to get better for her now but only if she wanted too. She leant back in her seat and the bell sounding the end of lesson rang through the halls. She stayed where she was and watched the students go past, a few of the older ones came up out of an elevator, if they weren't students they had just finished. They were four of them, one was Jean the woman who had shown her to the office, another was a young man with ruby glasses, the next woman had white hair and dark skin and she remembered her as Ororo who had come to fetch the two men she had been with. The last person out of the elevator had blue fur and he seemed a bit like an ape.

She shook her head and looked around, she had seen stranger mutants than that and compared to them he had it pretty easy.

The four people went different ways and the doors of the elevator closed behind them, shortly afterwards when all the students were safely in lessons the doors opened again and Charles Xavier stepped out of them.

He walked towards her, his face clouded with a confused expression, "I thought your room would be ready by now" he said when he got close enough to talk.

"I haven't checked" she said getting to her feet, she smiled at him.

Charles looked at her, "then I expected you to be exploring the grounds"

They walked down the corridor together as they carried on with the conversation.

"I did" she told him.

He didn't ask because he didn't need to his face said it all.

"I was around by the playing fields when a girl named Diana Leto got into some trouble with another student, she accidently hit her with the hockey stick knocking her to the floor" Rosalina explained, "she and the coach had words and she was sent to your office, I found her sitting there clearly upset. I talked it over with her and I told her I would tell you what happened"

"Ah," was all he said at first, "she's had quite a few problems with some of the other students who come from a more welcoming background, I've tried to talk to her about it but she refuses to open up about any of it"

"Hmm" she said quietly as they turned a corner and classrooms passed them on either side, "do you mind if I talk to her about it? Maybe all she needs is someone who isn't going to judge"

"I'd never judge" Charles looked at her.

"She doesn't know that, you're her principle. She must think that if she tells you what is really going on then she'll loose her place at the school" She told him, "whereas I am a stranger who has no influence over what happens at the school yet have your trust enough to walk around freely"

He nodded and saw her logic, "I guess you are correct but I would want this monitored"

"That would include someone being in the room though" Rosalina said.

"Not if I simply saw things through you" he told her.

She was confused, "I do not understand"

Charles took her into a free room nearby and closed the door, "Rosalina"

"Please call me Rosa" she corrected him.

"Rosa, I'm psychic, it's my power just like your healing and it means that I can see what you see if I want to although I do not like doing this without the persons permission" he told her.

"You're full of ethics Charles" she said with a sweet smile.

"It's the only way forward" he smiled back, "so do I have your permission?"

"Yes" she answered, "but I would prefer for this to be done after I have convinced Erik I am who I say I am"

"I understand" he said quietly looking out of the window.

She sighed and looked over to him, he was tall, dignified and proud of his age and what he had accomplished within it, "do you believe me?"

Her question caught him off guard, and he looked at her with sparkling blue eyes "I know you are telling the truth"

"There's a difference between knowledge and belief" she said before opening the door and walking upstairs to her room.

* * *

Rosalina had left Charles in the empty class room, he sighed and watched the empty basketball courts. Maybe she was right, belief and knowledge were different things. But he needed knowledge before he could belief, faith was something that rarely touched his soul.

* * *

She walked up three flights of stairs before reaching the floor where she suspected her room would be, the past floors had been dormitories especially for the students. She expected this floor to be for guests and teachers if they were not placed somewhere else.

She walked quietly down the corridor and found a room with a simple note stuck to the door, it read 'Rosalina' in a spidery handwriting. She didn't bother guessing whose it was, it didn't matter. Instead Rosalina opened the door and saw a pristinely made up double bed with red sheets, the walls were painted a cream colour with dark furniture and a cream bathroom branching off via a wooden door.

She closed the door softly behind her and noticed the key was on the bedside table, it was small but bronze looking. She went into the bathroom and started to run a bath and process the events of the day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five-**** Orange**

_**Author's Note-**__** Here you go! Hope you enjoy this one! =D**_

_**Chapter Song-If You're Gonna by Natasha Bedingfield because if you are going to do something might as well do it to the full!**_

Rosalina relaxed in the warm soothing water, she had used honey smelling bath gel. The sweet aroma wafted through the air and back out into her room, after twenty minutes she decided it was best to get out or she would suffer from dry skin again. She wrapped herself in a towel and dressed in the complementary bathrobes that were situated in each room and checked the time. It was half past eleven and the air outside her window was cool and sharp in the darkness. She closed the window and decided to sleep before explaining herself to her brother and her kind host.

-------------------

Erik was in the subterranean levels when Charles finally caught up with him, he was in one of the labs working on the Cerebro project that would help Charles find mutants from all around the globe and extract information from people who were not initially aware of it. His lifelong friend was sat at the computer and trying to configure the various types of software needed before they could even begin construction of the machine that would enhance psychic powers by over a hundred times.

But of course if this project fell into the wrong hands it could be catastrophic depending on what they wished to use it for. If they moved a few calculations around then they would be connected to every mutant on the planet and destroy them, scan them for useful information or implant things in their minds and make them do unspeakable things.

"Erik" Charles said in greeting.

He moved away from the computer and looked at his friend, "Charles"

"I expected you to be getting rest but Scott didn't see you come up" he said.

"I do appreciate your concern but I am more than capable of looking after myself" he laughed, he used it to cover the tiredness in his eyes.

"You're thinking about her aren't you?" the other man asked kindly.

He was silent and went back to the computer screen, "how can I not?"

"And you're trying to figure out how this is even possible" Charles told him as he took a seat, "And the only plausible explanation is that she is indeed telling the truth"

"No its not" Erik said with conviction, "the plausible explanation is that she is someone who is not my sister and sent to infiltrate this place"

He sighed, "if that is the case then I wish for you to keep an open mind, if she is indeed a fake if she picks up that you suspect her then there will be no way for us to find out where she came from"

"Hmm" he went back to programming software and Charles turned and left him alone in the lab.

* * *

In his own room he changed into his nightwear and fell asleep quite easily in his own bed, he thought of past friends and allies that had disappeared throughout the years.

There had been many, homosapians and mutants, who had stood by him on varying issues but as he thought through them he realised how few of them would actually believe Rosa without conclusive proof that she was who she claimed to be.

He sighed and turned off the light and tried to get as much sleep as possible.

* * *

For the first time in a long time Rosalina couldn't sleep during the night and slept through most of the day instead. When she woke up she realised it was three o'clock. She got dressed into some fresh clothes she had brought with her and made her way downstairs, she was hungry so she went into the kitchen to get some food.

In there she found the man she had seen yesterday, he was wearing jeans and a shirt but his skin was blue and covered in the same coloured fur.

"Hello" he said kindly.

She nodded, "Hello"

He was eating something on the small island counter in the middle of the modern kitchen, "I'm Hank McCoy"

"Rosalina Lensherr" she said coolly as she opened the refrigerator and looked for something to eat, she spotted several different fruits and decided to have an apple, a pomegranate and an orange.

She sat down at the same island and took the skin of the orange off skilfully with her ivory handled knife. McCoy watched her intensely.

After she had eaten half of the orange he asked her, "Are you by any chance related to Erik Lensherr?"

She looked at him with curious brown eyes, "I am even though he does not believe me," Rosalina forced a sad smile and changed the subject, "how did you find your way here anyway?"

He spluttered for a moment, "my parents abandoned me and i was rejected by society and lived on the street as an animal until i heard about Xavier and his school"

She nodded, "you have hidden here ever since?"

He looked away, "yes"

"And you're letting small minded people keep you behind locked doors because you're scared" she considered for a moment, "you know you should be happy you weren't born in the USSR or you'd be killed on sight"

He gulped.

She stabbed the table top with her knife, "yet, I have never met anyone with a more obvious mutation and let people walk over them, terrify them in such a way...they enter society with their heads held high because they know they are the innocent ones"

"But they died" McCoy looked at her fearfully.

She flashed a knowing smile, "not always, only when the vigilantes got to them before us" she had finished her orange and started on the apple, "but what did you want to do when you were a child?"

"Be a doctor or an activist in the government on Mutant Rights" he told her.

She smiled, "do you still wish to do that?"

"Yes" he said quietly.

"Then go and do it, and do not worry about being accepted" she winked.

He smiled and got up, clearing his plate in the process and left the room. She carried on eating her fruit and wondered what time they would call for her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six- ****Faith**

_**Author's Note-**__** Hey! I scrapped the song on this one too lol. Sorry for how late it's been, been kind of hectic over here! Enjoy!**_

It turned out that it wasn't long before Xavier came to find her. Rosalina had made her way over to the library where she was reading up on American history. She had reading glasses perched on the edge of her nose as she leaned over the dusty old tome and read the small text. She heard the door open distantly and carried on reading. She didn't stop until someone poked her gently on the arm.

"Rosa?" it was Charles, "Will you follow me?"

"Hmm?" she looked at him and realised, "of course"

She closed the book and removed her glasses before placing them on the hardwood table she had been sitting at. They walked through the corridors of the school. Their feet softly touched the carpet and after a while it gave away to the marble in the lobby. Rosa presumed that they were going to his office but to her surprise he walked to where the elevator was hidden behind the wooden panelling.

Charles simply pressed one of the individual panels and they moved away with a slick whoosh to reveal the metal container that would transport them down to the levels below the school.

She eyed him worriedly.

"We will be conducting this in the lower levels if you don't mind" he told her with an honest smile.

"Fine" she answered simply and approached the elevator before entering it with him.

---------------

A few moments later the metallic doors opened to reveal an almost hospital like decor. She stepped out and wondered if this really was some secret underground hospital, she knew it was more than possible for an underground base to be in operation. Charles followed her and the door closed behind them.

He saw her quizzical look and explained as they walked, "when the anti mutant activities got more and more aggressive i took the liberty of making these labs where i can easily protect my students from"

She nodded and they passed several sealed doors, "i understand but how come no one outside the school has noticed? Surely the amount of materials needed would cause some attention"

"As would the school would if people realised it was solely for mutants" he laughed and she understood him instantly.

He had gotten the materials in such a way that no one would notice that such large quantities would be going to something that should be a supposedly newly refurbished school.

They continued walking for a little bit further and Rosa resisted the urge to interrogate him further for as long as possible but as they rounded another corner and only the sound of their steady breathing and equal footsteps were audible she couldn't stand it.

"Has there been any need for its use?" she asked politely using the friendly techniques she had been taught but rarely used.

He shook his head thankfully, "luckily no but I do fear that this new vigilante group which has gained a lot of support may find out about this place"

"What are they called?" she asked him as they stopped at one door in particular.

He sighed as he pressed a small control one the wall next to it, "they're calling themselves the Weapon Mutant Human Guard"

A flicker of recognition flashed in her brown eyes but she buried it without a moment's thought, "so what exactly are we doing Professor?"

He was slightly shocked that she had called him by his teaching title rather than his name, "We're going to go through your story and if i would be allowed i would like to see the your memories and show them to Erik"

"i see" she nodded after a short while, "of course, if that is what it takes for him to believe me then i will"

Charles forced a smile as the electronic doors parted with an almost eerie whisper of a sound and they entered the room. He went over to the side of the room where Rosa saw several filing cabinets and a cheap looking wooden desk. He ruffled though the piles of paper at a quick pace while she decided to take the rest of the room in. Around the edge of the walls there were filing cabinets and another desk placed nearby and there was also a computer monitor with a large hard drive attached via several thick wires. But it was what was in the middle of the room that struck her as odd, there was a medical bed with its legs bolted to the grey floor.

She sighed and presumed that she would be the one laying on that bed, from what she had seen of psychics most of them preferred it when the person they were working on wasn't going to faint and fall half way through.

She sighed and slowly felt the air leave her lungs and enter the atmosphere before turning to him while eyeing the bed, "should i lie down?"

He had finally found the sheet of paper he had been looking for and turned back to face her while walking over to where the head of the bed was, "please"

Rosa walked over to the bed and sat down, she almost had to jump to get on it because it was at waist height. While she was sat on it and starting to get her bearings the metallic doors opened with the same whisper. A familiar face entered the room.

Erik looked at the proceedings and didn't allow even one second of emotion to show on his face, he simply turned and went to the other desk in the room and sat on the office chair tucked in behind it.

She tried to ignore it, she knew she'd have the same reaction but she just wanted his faith in her. He had become so cold and distant in regards to the people who he had loved. Rosa laid back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling tears beginning to bite at her eyes. She refused to let them fall.

She felt Charles' cool hands on either side of her head as he spoke softly to her, "just relax and start from the beginning, after you were discovered alive in the back of the truck"

Her eyes fluttered and closed as she saw the memories as clear as if it had all happened yesterday, she felt her mouth move and her voice tell the story of how she became who she was.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven- Memories**

S_orry this has taken so long. I just randomly felt the need to update this one. :) Enjoy!_

Charles kept his hands at either side of her head as she told them the story. Erik was sat back in his chair, his elbow on the desk and looking scornful. Rosa's cool voice travelled around the room quietly as she began to remember and tell them everything. He closed his own eyes and started to dive into her memories while maintaining a connection with Erik allowing him to see everything he saw.

_I was lying face down in the back of the truck. My breathing got stronger and I looked up tentatively from where I had been thrown with the other bodies. There were several soldiers also sat in the truck. Two of them were talking to each other and they kept looking out the back of the truck back down the dirt trail. The other one was Chrystian. My friend. He was looking down at his feet and crying. I knew it was risky but I moved my hand a little and he looked over to me._

_I stared at him and he mouthed silently, 'how…'_

_The truck started to slow down and we turned off of the road. I closed my eyes before any of the others could see and a few moments later I heard shouting._

"_Zajac?!" a man bellowed, "You're going to fill the grave in!"_

_I felt someone pick me up and he whispered in my ear, "do not move, do not worry"_

_The next thing I knew was being laid down in the soil with someone else's body on top of my own and the men were laughing and joking. I don't know when it happened but the laughing stopped and there was just the sound of someone shoveling earth. I heard the truck pull away and after a few moments I heard the shovel drop and the body was moved from on top of me._

_I coughed loudly and opened my eyes._

_Chrystian was staring down at me, he was terrified, "come on little Rosa, we must move quickly" he picked me up out of the mass grave and I didn't look at my dead friends. He wrapped me up in his coat and took me by the hand, "now we have to run quick okay? The border the Russia isn't far but we mustn't get caught"_

"_Why must we go there?" I asked quietly._

"_Because I have a friend over there who can help us. Keep us safe," he looked around, "ready?"_

_I nodded and we started to run through the cold woods. The snow began to fall and we reached the border within a few hours. I was tired and hungry but he urged me to keep going. We sneaked past the guards and managed to catch a train into Moscow where his friend lived._

_It took us two days to find him but Chrystian didn't give up hope. We turned up on the doorstep to his apartment at eleven at night. He seemed more than a little surprised to see us._

"_Chrystian?" he asked with a thick Russian accent. He was youngish, in his late twenties with dark slicked hair._

_He nodded and I was still holding his hand, "Valentin, can we please come in?"_

_He stood aside and allowed us into his home, "What exactly is going on?"_

"_This is Rosa" he paused, "she was executed a few days ago but she should be dead, but she is completely uninjured"_

"_You think she's one of them?" Valentin asked while eyeing me._

"_What other explanation can there be?" he pondered, "you could keep her safe with this power?"_

_His friend nodded, "of course, I need to see it though" he disappeared into the kitchen and came back with an ivory handled knife. He crouched down next to me, "don't worry child" he told me as he held my arm out, "I'm only going to prick you"_

_He put the sharp end of the knife to my pale skin and twisted it sharply. There was a pinching pain but only a tiny mark. He looked at the mark and his watch timing how long it would take. Within five seconds it was healed._

"_That is extraordinary, especially for someone so young…how old is she?" he asked._

"_Six" I said while rubbing my arm._

_A couple of days later I was sat in a lavishly decorated office of something that Valentin called the Kremlin. Chrystian had left me alone and gone somewhere. He hadn't told me where. We were waiting for the great leader apparently. I was sat in a newly bought dress and my new shoes were hurting my feet. Suddenly the door nearby opened and an old man stepped out. He looked like he was in his forties or fifties. He was wearing a cream suit and Valentin stood up straight in respect. I did the same if a little hesitantly._

"_Sir" he greeted._

_The other man sat down, "you may sit" we sat and he then turned to me, "what is your name little one?"_

_I looked up to him, "Rosalina Lensherr"_

_He nodded thoughtfully, "what can you do?"_

"_I…people say that I heal quicker" I looked down._

"_No need to be ashamed," he told me._

"_I want my family" I started to cry._

_He smiled, "we are your family now"_

_I shook my head, "your communists, it's your war with the Nazi's that got us took away. You're not my family"_

_He seemed shocked and Valentin started making excuses for me. The other man laughed and laughed._

_When he finished he told me, "You are strong willed my child. I am sorry for your family, how old are you?"_

"_Six" I told him._

"_A little vixen then" he said, "my name is Stalin and we are the closest thing you have to a family now"_

_I gulped._

_I was walking back through the corridors of the Kremlin nearly twenty years later and looked only seventeen. My heels clicked on the marble flooring and I looked through my papers, I was due to go on my first mission with a few other mutants. I heard running behind me and then Alekzandr appeared in front of me._

"_Hey foxy" he said jokingly to me and we walked together._

"_It's Vixen remember" I corrected him._

"_I know, you were Stalin's favorite pet" he smiled, "so…what's this group called?"_

"_The Weapon Mutant Human Guard" I told him, "they're vicious and hate anyone with strange genes"_

"_Why exactly are we doing this?" he wondered._

"_Because they've attacked too many mutants" I said then added, "plus the government feels a little threatened, we're the only secret police around here"_

_He laughed loudly._

_I wandered down the corridor with my gun held high. It was dark and the others were taking care of the vigilantes. I had found the holding pens as they called them. Most of the people were dead and they varied from men to women and from small children up until the age of grandparents. It was horrendous. These people were tortured and black and blue with cuts and stab marks nearly everywhere on their bodies. _

_Towards the end of the corridor I heard a woman weeping. I followed the sound and flashed my light into that cell. A woman with orange hair and blue skin was looking up at me terrified. I fired at the lock on the door._

"_Don't worry, I'm not with them" I told her and helped her up._

_She stared at me, "then who are you?"_

"_I'm someone who can help" I told her and she saw my dog-tag hanging around my neck. It read Vixen. _

_I was sat watching the news when the Berlin wall was being torn down. My apartment was limited and minimalist. The phone began to ring and I answered._

"_Hello?" came a familiar voice._

"_Raven?" I asked, "You have everything right?"_

"_Yes" she said in her fluid voice, "thank you but…I shall not be going by that name anymore"_

"_I didn't expect anything else" I told her, "enjoy your new life"_

"_Thank you" was all she said and the line went dead._

_I couldn't blame her for wanting to get out. The WMHG was nasty and I myself was thinking of getting out of being their little deterrent. They were now getting bases in the US. I expected them to flourish in a capitalist country as much as a communist one. I sighed and knew what little was left of my family was safe. I decided that I wanted to call around for a visit._

Rosalina stopped talking and Charles' eyes cleared. Erik's face had relaxed and he now looked like he had seen a ghost. She started to get up and as she did she wiped the tears from her eyes. She smiled over at him.

"Believe me yet?" she asked with her accent.

"Of course" he was crying and he came over to hug her, "I am sorry I doubted you"


End file.
